Pokemon mystery dungeon: Explores Of Universes (TEASER)
by riolulover97
Summary: Now I know that a lot of people believe that Pokemon don't exist...and maybe they're right. After all, the existence of creatures that can breathe fire, shoot electricity, and all these other things sound insane right? Of course...but, what we don't take into account is that: the universe is INFINITE. And is it REALLY a stretch to say that, somewhere out there maybe they DO exist?
1. Prelude 1: The palace of the devil

Hey guys, riolulover97 here. And you all are probably thinking this right now:

'Really? FOUR series? This guy is over his head.'

And yes, maybe I am, but allow me to explain.

So basically, this is sort of my...big project you could say. It's a story that was the very first I had ever written...Ever. And it wasn't even on fanfiction

Unfortunately, the story I've posted here won't be updated for a long time. Mainly because this story, in particular, is very special to me and I only want to write it when I feel as if my potential to be an author has reached its maximum.

However, I DO feel confident enough to give you all a bit of a teaser as to what the story will be. That way you all can know what is my end goal when it comes to fanfiction, and I can see how well my skill has improved and how close I am to truly writing this story.

Now then, let's begin something that will continue another time.

(Also like last days, the characters here are meant to be imagined as pokemon...except for the cat-non-cat and a few others, you'll know who in a second. Also, sorry if a lot of the stuff here doesn't make sense, this is supposed to be like a prelude to the actual story. Also, there WILL be spoilers for persona five here, as well as some semi-spoilers for the PMD series so if your opposed to that sort of thing, YA BEST GET OUTA DODGE.)

* * *

 **?'s POV:**

"..."

This was it.

* * *

 **We'd best prepare for combat, just to be safe - FE** : **Awakening**

* * *

The next step in mending the broken psyches of the thieves. We had made good progress through the confidants, but now we were working towards the big bads...I'm not really sure HOW some of them had come back from the dead, but as Igor said, this WAS a universe in which, the laws of it are unique to its own...whatever the heck THAT means...

I looked over our plans...we had prepared very much for this day, as it was to be when we were to start our second mission once again...I remember Ruby, my best friend, a fennekin, and partner, and Riley, our 'leader', a chimchar, and my second best friend had nearly busted their backs in two training today...at least I knew they were taking this seriously.

We weren't expecting to get very far, just a simple scouting mission to see what we were dealing with...I only hoped we were ready for whatever came next. Not even Marat's training, the right hand of the guild could have prepared us for what we were now doing...

"...You keep hunching over that piece of paper, and your posture is going to be obliterated." said one of my friend's, jack, an oshawott, noting my position and probably indirectly suggesting that I get a chair.

I gave him a nervous smile. "..Well, I can think of a lot more things that would do even WORSE things to my back." I said, reminding him of the crazy task we were about to attempt.

...

He put an arm on my shoulder once he realized that I was worried. "...You know we don't HAVE to do this...right?"

I just sighed, unable to even say anything back to him... I just wished I had his confidence, not quite cocky, not quite humble. Instead of being JUST humble...

He smiled at me. "We can do this man I KNOW we can just like all the others, and I'm the closest thing we have to a tactician in our team." ... and he was right. Out of all of us, Jack was usually the one to form our plans. Heck, he even made the diagram I was looking at right now.

"...Yeah...Yeah, your right, otherwise you would have never even bothered trying to do this in the first place would you?" I asked him, believing I already knew the answer.

He sighed. "Ugh, we've got to find a way to get some confidence in you. I mean, remind me again who it was that fought one-on-one against Suicune, while his friend did the same with Entei?" Jack asked, daring whatever little amount of pride that was still left in me to show itself.

I copied his sigh. "We both had treasure bags full of items when they didn't, and in the end, all I could do was sleep-lock him while I hit the poor guy over and over again. And I'm assuming ruby did something similar because we're both about the same level when it comes to combat prowess." I said, explaining my thoughts to him.

I could tell he wanted to say something else, but he didn't due to the fact that it was almost time for us to infiltrate.

... "Well...here we go..." I said to myself as I walked outside...something told me today was going to be a long day.

* * *

 **Let the song play out if it hasn't already.**

* * *

...

* * *

(TIME SHIFT: TWENTY MINUTES LATER.)

 _..._

 _I woke up in that strange room again...and as I thought, he was still there, ever present._

* * *

 **The poem of everyone's souls - persona 5**

* * *

 _He looked on at me with his creepy stare, as if he were trying to see right through me..._

 _"Well well well, look who has decided to join us once more." the strange being said. "truly, you intend to see this to its conclusion."_

 _I gave a confident smile. "Well when you invite me in such a manner, how could I just ignore you?" I said to him._

 _He gave me one of his...laughs. "Yes...how could you?"_

 _It was at that moment when his assistant came into the room, a small human girl by the name of...i think it was lavenza? I'm not sure, she never said her name around me, but that was apparently what she was called if my...'associate' was to be trusted._

 _"Ah, I see the one of no arcana has returned to us." she said in her gentle tone._

 _"Indeed, now, as much as I'd love to just sit down and have a nice conversation with you guys...*Sigh* I have a job to do, right?" I asked them, knowing the answer already._

 _"Of course." Said the assistant. "Now proceed to the room in the back, there you will find your friends."_

 _I nodded my head and walked to the room I had visited a thousand times._

* * *

 _When I had arrived, I found my companions waiting for me._

 _"Geez...never gonna get used to just, blacking out in the middle of training like that...can't you at least warn us or something?" Riley asked me, once again displeased with my habit of never telling him when we were headed here._

 _"Sorry, it always slips my mind, you KNOW how forgetful I am." I told him, recalling my one of my many flaws: memory._

 _"Isn't there any way you can fix that though?" Ruby asked me, her head tilted to one side._

 _"*sigh* If there is ruby, I'll be first in line to attempt it." I said to her, confirming that yes, I would do anything to fix my memory problem._

 _We all sat on the ground and waited for the last one to show up._

 _..._

 _"...But man though...who would have thought we would have been caught up in all of THIS?" Riley said to all of us, taking in everything that we had done. "One day, we could be exploring dungeons made from a secret hidden in the world itself, trying to make a discovery that would make even fogbound lake seem minor in comparison...and the next, we could be exploring dungeons made from the hearts of people, from a utopia world turned dystopia...it just all seems so...unlikey."_

 _"Yeah, and the fact that we've somehow made THIS far without anyone noticing is...downright bizarre. Remind me again everyone we've saved by now?" Jack added, acknowledging our adventures so far._

 _"Well let's see. There was Hifumi the samurai of envy. Her palace was formed due to her learning of the phantom thieves and never being able to join them, despite her quality as a strategist. And then Tae Takemi the doctor of wrath. Who similar to one of the phantom thieves hated herself due to her inability to save a young child from a dangerous sickness by focusing solely on developing a medicine that she thought would cure her..." Ruby said, recapping our achievements._

 _"...And then we learned that a palace could be classified under MULTIPLE sins and that there could be more than one palace that could be based on the same sin. For example:_ _Sugimura the millionaire of lust/pride. Who had fantasies over one of the phantom thieves as his...'plaything', as well as a lust for power and money, and due to him receiving these things, he became prideful, as he started seeing himself above all other humans. Principal kobayakawa the general of greed/gluttony. Who was willing to sacrifice his student's due to his constant want for attention and fame. And after he had those things due to kamoshida, he indulged in them constantly pleasuring himself with every bit of attention the school got. Chihaya the fortune teller of greed/wrath. Who became addicted to selling fake goods in order to gain massive amounts of money, and HATED all who would dare tell others that it was a ruse." She added...she was always very thorough when it came to explanations._

 _"And of course, we couldn't have done any of it without you!" she said as she lightly knocked my arm._

 _I was admittedly flustered at the sudden praise. "AH-oh come on guys, what did I do that none of you couldn't have?" I asked everyone, thinking that I was just another member of a team and nothing special, as I've always thought._

 _"Why to provide them with an entry into the metaverse of course." said our mentor as he walked into the room. He didn't look like any pokemon we knew of, but he also didn't look like a human either._

 _"Mona." I said as the last phantom thief stepped into the room._

 _"Cobalt." he said as the rest of us rised of the ground._

 _"Do you two REALLY have to use your code names even when we're NOT in a palace?" Jack asked us, thinking our habit unnecessary._

 _"Well, this place is still in the metaverse...can't be too careful, can we?" He asked the water type, who just sighed at his answer._

 _"So then, who's tail are we kicking now? I for one, am ready to knock some skulls together!" Riley said, balling his fist and catching it in his other hand._

 _"As you always are, Scorch. Now then, this time we're going after..." Mona drifted off as he looked over a piece of paper._

 _"...Ohya, the detective of sloth. This lady has left all other things in her life behind her in pursuit of one thing: her missing friend. This desire of hers grew so great that she pushed away everyone she knew and called a friend...eventually forming a palace."_

 _"That's...honestly kind of tragic." I stated, looking at the picture with a different mentality._

 _"Indeed, but it still cannot be overlooked. Now...I trust that you all have prepared for this day?" Mona asked us, expecting a 'yes'._

 _"Well yeah. After all, palaces are no laughing matter." Ruby said, showing that we were prepared for this._

 _"...Especially for rookies." He stated openly._

 _"HEY! I take offense to that!" Ruby shouted, believing that we were beyond that title now._

 _I sighed at the fact she could still be upset about that. "Anyway, are we going now?" I asked._

 _"Alright, alright. Enough kidding around, let's go." He said as a strange portal opened for us, we walked through it and entered the designated area._

* * *

 **End song**

* * *

...

The area that we had arrived in was a huge city, similar to New York, or New Zealand...yup, this was a palace alright.

* * *

 **Ohya's palace theme - Ode imaginations *who by the way, is EXTREMELY talented and I recommend you listen to ALL of his music themes. Just saying.**

* * *

The lights were glowing various shades of yellow and were all very bright as if the whole city was being interrogated or something.

"...Okay, everything seems to be going to plan." Mona stated as he looked around the city. "...But I can't find the source of the distortion anywhere in the immediate area...alright, who's up for some recon?"

"I sure am." I said as I picked a direction and dashed down it, everyone following close behind me.

We had quickly taken to the roofs of the city, heeding the modern rule of society in that no one ever looks up. After jumping from roof to roof, we noticed a strange event happening in one of the alleyways, a man and a woman, alone, talking to each other.

"I don't want to talk to you! Leave me ALONE!" the woman yelled at the man.

He then slammed her against the building they were behind. "Look, lady, I don't have time to deal with uncooperative people, so your gonna give me that wallet there or I'm gonna FORCE it out of you, capiche?"

Honestly, the whole scene disgusted me, but it was a clue as to how this person's distorted heart viewed the city, so we had to allow it.

Riley took notice of the absence of people in the area and commented on it. "Why isn't anyone coming here, actually? They're making enough noise to be noticed."

"Perhaps in Ohya's eyes, the authority's don't care about the people they are supposed to protect?" Jack theorized given the information available.

"Maybe, but we'll want to observe more before coming to any conclusions. Also, nice catch noticing the absence of police Riley. After all, this IS a huge city." Mona said, praising Riley's sense of awareness.

Riley donned a smug look on his face and said, "It comes with experience."

I just rolled my eyes. "Suuure it does buddy. Anyway, let's keep moving."

We explored more of the city, no shadows attacking us yet...it was then I got a pretty good idea as to how the palace would play out. We saw a similar scene play out only this time, the lady was dressed in very fancy clothes...

Only when she was being threatened...

A blue and white car came rushing in out of nowhere, exiting from the vehicle was a police officer pointing his gun at the petty thief. "POLICE! FREEZE!" they shouted at the man, who threw his hands up in the air almost immediately.

After they had shoved him in the car, the police came to comfort the young woman. "Oh my hero!" she shouted as she hugged the officer that had saved her.

"No problem, anything for world-famous actor Tristina Harland!" the officer said, in an expected tone of his profession.

We were all watching from the rooftops again. "Huh, well THAT played out differently." Ruby stated.

It was then that the puzzle in my mind was solved with a satisfying 'click'. "Ohhh. I see now."

"Hmm? What's up Cobalt?" Mona asked me.

"The way Ohya's heart sees the world is that the police only care about people who are rich or famous. i.e Actors, or millionaires. Otherwise, why wouldn't the police help that other lady we saw earlier?" I explained to everyone.

Our mentor seemed pleased at my theory. "...Huh, not a bad guess at all!"

"And if that is true...then perhaps the journalists are the true forces of justice in the city?" Jack said, adding to my thoughts.

"Not bad either Wave! As I've stated before, the two of you are naturals at deciphering the heart." Mona stated as we continued to move across the rooftops.

"Well if that's true, then I think I have a pretty good idea as to where the source of distortion is located." I said as we headed in another direction.

* * *

Eventually, we found two huge buildings facing each other, like mirror images. On one side was the police station, the other, a newspaper tower.

"Yeah, I had a gut feeling about that one." I said looking at the two towers that faced us.

"...Although, one thing DOES confuse me about this whole situation." Jack said as we looked on at the towers.

"What's that?" Ruby asked, not really thinking too hard about the whole situation.

"Why would this 'ohya' see the police as attention seekers? Is there something we don't know about?" Jack asked all of us.

"Well, it's really unclear. What I know is that she used to work with the thieves to spread a good word about them, alongside them promising to help find her friend...however...after the...'incident', we lost contact with her, as well as the other confidants. I DO know that it was her manager that wanted to keep her from investigating...and then legal authorities were probably brought in...and if they didn't help her..." Mona explained to us.

"She might have thought that they only cared about money and fame since what she was doing was the TRUE justice, and they didn't even bother." Riley stated, tying all the pieces together.

We took another look at the huge building to the right.

"...It truly is tragic...which is why we need to fix this, now." Jack said as we dashed to the building, looking for a way in.

* * *

 **End song**

* * *

After a bit of searching, we noticed a weak vent shaft in the side of the building. We went in through it, and eventually found ourselves in the main hall...

And it was pretty...strange. Even for palaces.

The whole interior was black and white, along with everything else in the room and...I don't know why, but it felt familiar...like I had seen it before somewhere...

"Hmm...so if my intuition is correct, we should be seeing shadows any minute-"

"INTRUDERS!" Yelled a stranger in a grey coat and fedora, cutting me off from finishing my sentence.

"-now." I said as we were surrounded.

"Of courrrrse" Ruby moaned as we prepared to face the threat...

And THEN we were greeted by the mistress herself.

* * *

 **Blood of a villain - Persona 5**

* * *

"Hmph. What are YOU doing here?" said the figure we saw...they were wearing a strange brown robe along with a hat and notebook that...also reminded me of something.

"..." I remained silent for the most part.

"Oh? Not even going to try to explain yourself?... I guess by that logic your after my story's too, just like all the others." She said, believing us to be thieves of a sort.

"...You must be Ohya." I said to her face, unmoving in my expression.

She just laughed at me. "Of COURSE I am boy! How would you not know that? I'M the greatest mystery solver to ever EXIST." She said in a flamboyant tone.

"...I take it that if you know that we're here, you know what we're after." Mona said, stepping forward.

Upon seeing him, the shadow Ohya looked utterly shocked...but soon regained composure. "...Dammit...I KNEW that kid would rat me out...well, I have no time to waste with you, the day is new, and there are people to help...not that YOU would understand...EMPLOYEES!"

As she said that word, the figures in coat drew revolvers and pointed them at us. She walked away, believing they had the situation under control.

"Oh...crap." Riley said as they unleashed a hail of bullets.

* * *

 **Let the music play out if it hasn't already**.

* * *

Only for them to fall on the ground, motionless.

The goons stared on in confusion as the purple dome I had summoned vanished. "Heh, I'm never gonna get sick of that."

They looked at me with a sense of confusion. "How...how did you..."

"Oh? Were you impressed? Well if you liked that, you're going to LOVE this."

* * *

 **Play whatever you think fits best here, your choice.**

* * *

As I said that four hearts of various colors appeared. One for Riley, one for ruby, one for jack, and for myself.

Riley then took a headband out of his bag and put it on. He then balled his hands into fists...as he did this, the heart in front of him started to glow orange, and the headband glowed also summoning two transparent gauntlets to be worn on his hands.

Jack did something similar, and took a small patch of brown cloth and flipped it over his head tying it into a hood while taking out a plastic knife. The heart in front of him started to glow light-blue, and the plastic morphed into a razor-toothed dagger, while a transparent light-blue cape flew behind him.

Ruby took out a small apron that she put on and a little stick, along with a little nerf gun given to her by Mona. The heart in front of her started to glow both yellow and green, And the apron transformed into a small robe, the stick into a gem-encrusted staff, and the toy, into a desert eagle, as a green halo formed over her head.

As for me, I whipped out a pencil and notebook, as my heart started to glow purple. The pencil in my right hand transformed into a black and white blade I called 'duality' and the notebook into a reinforced steel-plated Medival shield, while transparent purple glasses formed over my face.

This. Was our true strength...the power that lies in the hearts of those who do not wish for rebellion...yet have embraced their true selves all the same...the yin to a persona's yang...the power of the soul.

The goons looked at us before one of them, presumably, their leader, stepped forward, and asked us the magic question. "...what's your name kids?"

I smiled. "Cobalt. Scorch. Emerald. Mizu. And Mona."

He looked at us with an amused expression on his face. "...You really think a magic trick's gonna be enough to take us down?"

"YES." I shouted as we all backflipped, except Riley, a leaped forward screaming this: "BURST BREAKER!"

He put his hands together, and slammed the ground, creating cracks in the ground that instantly found themselves under the shadows...which then exploded into flames. The shadows screamed as they reverted back into their original forms, two berith, and an archangel.

"Alright, this seems like it's just gonna be a warmup so let's deal with it fast." Mona said as we all got into position.

"...Your forgetting something." I reminded our mentor.

"But of course." He said as blue flames started to form around him...giving way to our secret weapon...summoned by a single word.

"PERSONA!"

as he shouted that word, a giant humanoid bandit formed behind him...signaling that the fight was about to begin.

* * *

Annnd...*sigh* here come's the inevitable backlash of people who get mad at stories that leave at cliffhangers...oh boy...

Again though everyone, this is just to test if this kind of idea will be well received in the fanfiction community and...considering its a three-way crossover...you can see why I'm leaving it here for now.

...

Please don't hurt me.

This is riolulover97, hoping you all get to go to heaven!

 **(A/N Also, ONLY OE MORE WEEK UNTIL THE CONTINUATION OF DUAL NATURES! Just wanted to remind everyone about that. Also, during the last week, I'm going to allow you guys to see the total votes for the poll to give you a better idea as to where the story is headed. *sorry that I didn't show anyone the votes for the first week, I just wanted to be sure the opinion wasn't biased based on the 'winning side' or anything.)**


	2. Prelude 2: A quiet storm

Author: Hey guys, riolulover 97-

*looks at the deserted landscape around him*

Author: Uh...where did everyone go?

In all seriousness, I am SORRY I have not been on this site for a while. I don't even know how I got THIS much sidetracked with everything between my real life, my schoolwork, and my friends.

Really I just wish I could have been there with update left right and center, but I'm STILL strapped for time as I write this. But I didn't just want to leave you guys with nothing for two straight weeks so...what do?

Well, for now, I've cooked up this little short story that I had to write in under an hour that I think can tide you guys over before I get things back under control and start REALLY writing again.

As you can tell, this is also a part of my special project that I've been waiting for the right time to work on. It's not a whole lot to chew on, but its really all I got for now. (And yes, I know that earlier I said I wasn't going to update it for a while but that page was really more of a way for me to tease the story, and not the actual story itself.)

So anyway, this was riolulover97 and GOD I need to start drinking coffee and doing night hours.

(P.S I wrote this whole story while listening to an arrangement of beneath the mask by someone who goes by Samuel A. If you want, you can listen to it while you read this.

* * *

I looked out into the distance...the rain pouring out on the land washing away all of the days worries ...it was beautiful. ...In the distance, I could see strangers hurrying to and fro, trying to complete whatever agenda it was they had to finish. ..the clouds above me just floated there, pouring down a stream of water..i listened to the sound of it hitting the ground...

I took a sip of my tea I brought with me...honey, of course, soaking in all the atmosphere…I sighed...why couldn't I always be this content...why couldn't all days just be like this? Rainy and peaceful…

"Hey there." said a friend of mine. "You gonna stay all alone here by yourself?"

I smiled "well that WAS the plan...but I should have expected no less from you."

She sat down with me, looking out into the distance…

…

"Beautiful, isn't it?" I asked her.

"Huh?" she responded.

I looked out there again. "...The sound of the rain hitting the ground, washing away the troubles of the peresent...the people scurrying about, making sure tomorrow can be like this to...the clouds hovering above us, without a care in the world as they soar to an unknowable destination...you could paint a picture from this."

She looked at the scenes I described...she smiled. "...Yeah...you really could."

…

"...You remember the day we first...talked like this?" I asked her.

She nodded "…Yeah...you were alone and confused in a place you could never understand...desperately seeking answers to find your way back...and you found nothing..."

…

I could feel her paw touch mine. "And then... I told you I'd be there with you...to make you feel like you weren't alone...and soon after that you told me you'd do the same...we were together almost always after that point..."

…

She seemed to notice that her paw was on mine at that moment and embarrassed, retracted it quickly.

"UH-I-uh-you didn't-well-uh-i"

She eventually just clamped her mouth shut with the two of her paws before she could say anything else...*sigh* even when she outgoing, she's still a little shy underneath...

I smiled and in a swift maneuver, pulled her to my side and flipped her around so she was laying on my arms, her face looking at mine. Before she could say anything I said the magic words. "You know that stuff doesn't bother me anymore...right?"

She just stared at me, amazed she was swept off her feet so seamlessly…

I decided to be bold.

Using my own paw, I gently moved her face to the side and placed a soft kiss on her cheek...her fur tasted like caramel to me. I wasn't sure why, but I loved it.

She let out a soft gasp as I did this and when I parted, she looked at me...stars in her eyes.

"...I'm not gonna pretend like I can run away from age...or that I can run away from my emotions...I love you...and you love me...and its time I start respecting that."

…

The two of us stared at each other for a bit...before she wrapped her arms around me for a hug...

"...I'm just so relieved I don't have to hide it anymore." she breathed out.

"I know." I said to her.

…

We spent a few moments in each-others embrace…

"But no matter what happens...you'll always be…"

She leaned back to look at my face.

"My greatest treasure."

She looked at me for a bit before a smile grew on her face...she then did that little giggle only girls could do right. "..You sure know how to flatter someone at least!"

I gave her a smile of my own. "It comes with experience."

…

We then both took a moment to just look at the scenery before us…

…

Rainy days…

Truly, a gift from God.


End file.
